Bently pled guilty. He was in no condition to serve a jail term, so he received a symbolic punishment -- 6 months summary probation.

Victor's trial begun on Friday. The first witness for the prosecution was the detective who interviewed Victor. His testimony was short; he said that Victor admitted attacking Bently. His partner, who interviewed Brenda and Anita, was scheduled to testify later for the defense.

The doctor who treated Bently took the witness stand after the cop. He described in great detail the extent of Bently's injuries, and presented X-ray pictures of the plaintiff's broken bones. Then it was the time for Bently's physical therapist to testify. At 6:00 PM the prosecutors finished presenting their case.

The other detective and Anita were supposed to testify on Monday, Brenda -- on Tuesday.

Bently didn't show up in the court room on Monday. The assistant DA told the judge that Bently is missing. "What do you mean by that?" said the judge. "He is not in the nursing home, no one knows where he is," said the assistant DA. "in this case the trial will resume after Bently returns to the nursing home," said the judge.

When Victor was leaving the court building, a detective approached him, showed his badge and asked where Victor was on Saturday. "One of our clients lives in San Diego, I had a meeting with him that day," said Victor. "May I have his coordinates?" said the detective. "Of course. They are on my cell phone," said Victor, and pulled the cell phone out of his briefcase.

On Tuesday Andreas called Victor on the phone and told him what happened to Bently. Bently was having physical therapy sessions every weekend; an ambulette was taking him from the nursing home to the therapy facility.

On Saturday Bently's pick-up time was at 2:00 PM. The ambulette arrived at !:15 PM. The driver was a middle-aged white man of average height. The driver told the receptionist that Bently's pick-up time was changed. The receptionist called the head nurse, and 10 minutes later an orderly rolled Bently out of the building. The driver hoisted him into the car and drove away. No one saw Bently after the departure.

"What do you think happened?" said Victor. "CoS got him," said Andreas. "But he was going to sue them after the trial. Somebody must have tipped them off," said Victor. "I did," said Andreas. "Why?" said Victor.

"I knew they will harass him. That alone may have been enough to start a lawsuit against them prematurely. That would have helped me to tie him to CoS, which is a very good defense strategy. Instead they kidnapped him, which is even better. Don't tell me that you feel sorry for the idiot!" said Andreas.

"Of course, I don't. I'm glad the motherfucker is gone. But what will happen at my trial?" said Victor. "Now it will be easy for me to strike a deal with the prosecutors. You will keep your lawyer license, I guarantee that," said Andreas.

With the plaintiff out of picture, the prosecutors wanted to wrap up the case in a hurry. Still, they wanted a conviction, but this time they were willing to agree to all Victor's lawyer's conditions. Andreas worked out a deal -- Victor will plea no contest, his conviction will be sealed, and he will get a 9-day prison term for misdemeanor battery.

In the criminal court system no contest plea is the same as guilty verdict. However, unlike guilty verdict, no contest plea cannot be used against the defendant in the civil court system. This means that, if Bently decides to sue Victor in a civil court, he will be unable to take advantage of Victor's no contest plea.

Since the verdict will be sealed, Victor will retain his lawyer license.

"You won't stay in jail for 9 days. They will release you tomorrow -- the jails are overcrowded, anyone who receives less than 11-day term gets out next day," said Andreas.

As Andreas predicted, Victor along with 8 prisoners with similar terms was released at 5: 20 AM. Victor used his cellphone to order a large limo, and told the other former prisoners that he will be taking all of them home. "Cheers to the rich white guy!!" said an African American prisoner who was convicted of stealing a pack of bananas from the supermarket.

Victor used to paly tennis with his childhood friend, Marshall. every other Saturday. Marshall was a senior FBI agent. One day Victor asked him after the game if he knows anything about the Bently abduction.

"I heard about the Bently investigation. The FBI was involved. I do not know the details. But if you want to know more, you could come to my office tonight. I will be working from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM," said Marshall. "I'll be there," said Victor.

Marshall looked at the computer files with the data about the Bently case and said, "The FBI checked reports from all states to see if an ambulette was stolen within the last 6 months. None was missing. After that they checked if anyone bought an ambulette. There were 3 purchases. All three were legit, the cars were sold to reputable companies, not to individuals. After that The FBI turned the investigation back to LAPD."

"What do you think had happened?" said Victor. "There are two possibilities. CoS might have bribed a driver, who agreed to deliver Bently to them. But this is a remote possibility because it would be hard to find a driver who would agree to participate in a crime. Most likely, CoS stole an ambulette from a company, used it to kidnap Bently and then returned the ambulette to its owner without them realizing that it was missing for a short time. The whole operation would have taken less than an hour." said Marshall.

"What about Bently's body?" said Victor. "They could have buried him in a forest in a shallow grave, " said Marshall.

Peter's name came up several times during Victor-Linda family sessions. Following the therapist's advice Linda told Victor Peter's story.

Peter's Mom was a third-generation Scientologist. She was poorly educated and could not survive outside Sea Org. Peter's father's name was not mentioned on his birth certificate. Soon after his birth doctors told Peter's Mom that he was autistic. Taking him out for a diagnosis from the WOG psychologists was the smartest thing that she did. But she didn't have a choice because the CoS kindergarten nannies could not control him. Mom was ashamed of her son, she damped him onto SO when he was 11 and after that visited him only twice.

Peter grew up in SO. He was not stupid, as his coworkers thought -- he had trouble communicating with the people, but otherwise he was OK. His IQ was 98, which is slightly below the average of 100.

Peter thought that LRH's writing were boring, so he pretended that he didn't understand them. His superiors decided that he is good for the simplest tasks only. Peter was released of duty of studying the LRH legacy. At the age of 14 Peter became a health fanatic after he saw a documentary about bodybuilder contests. He didn't have money to pay for a gym, but he developed a stern physical regiment and followed it religiously.

Linda was Peter's only friend. After Linda told Peter that she will be leaving SO in a month he expressed the desire to go with her. "First of all, I will have to find a place for you to live. That could take time. But I promise that I'll get you out of here," said Linda. She kept her promise, Peter left SO sooner than they both expected.

Young people with mental disabilities are kept in specialized facilities if their relatives cannot take care of them. There are special programs allowing these people to work as volunteers in nursing homes, kindergartens and other institutions. Some of them are capable of working full time and earn money. There are job placement programs for them.

Linda discussed with Melody Peter's situation two months after her departure from Sea Org. Melody arranged Peter's evaluation by a psychologist, who came to conclusion that Peter is eligible to stay in an "aid facility" and have a full time job.

Week after his nonviolent escape from SO Peter got a room at such facility, and a job as a truck driver delivering food supplies to local LA restaurants. His physical strength was the key factor in getting this job because he could unload trucks without someone's help.

Every work day before going to her work, Linda would stop at Peter's place and have a breakfast with him at a nearby diner (her shift was staring at 8:00 AM, his -- at 9:30 AM). One day Linda witnessed how CoS made a failed attempt to "recover" Peter.

The traffic was light that day, Linda arrived at Peter's place earlier than usual. She parked the car across the street and got out. Peter was inside the building. Linda crossed the street and saw a van parked in front of the building. Two men and three women were standing next to the van. Linda immediately recognized them -- it was the same crew that tried unsuccessfully to retrieve her. Linda hid herself behind the oak.

Security guard approached the van and said, "Peter is taking shower, he'll be out in ten minutes." After the guard left, one of the men said, "This is his photo. The ethics officer told me that Peter is a thin man of average height, we can easily overpower him. But we could have a problem with the security guard. The ethics officer didn't tell me that the building has security personnel." "Act fast. Drag him into the car without talking to him," said a woman.

Peter walked out of the building and said, "I am Peter. Are you looking for me?" The men looked startled. Peter was 6'3" and extremely muscular. "Are you sure you understood the boss? We cannot overpower him, he's too dangerous," said another man. "I'll talk to him," said one of the women.

She cautiously approached Peter and said, "We are your Scientology colleagues. I would like to talk to you in my office." "Where is your office?" said Peter. "At Gold Base. Your friends miss you, they want to see you," said the woman. "I don't have friends there, " said Peter. "Why, they all want you back, " said the woman. "I had only one friend in SO. She was the only one who didn't call me a degraded being," said Peter. "She is waiting for you, too," said the woman. "She is no longer in SO," said Peter. "Mr. Miscavige gave you an order to return to Gold Base!" shouted a man.

Linda stepped out and said, "I am sure you remember me. I was not supposed to fight you in front of the Temple. But here I can kick your ass. " The security guard heard the argument and yelled, "Peter, Linda are you, guys, all right?" The group got into the van and left in a hurry. They didn't make further attempts to retrieve Peter.

This is the story of Loretta's family. Loretta's grandfather, Marlon, was born in France. At the age of 14 Marlon and his family emigrated to the USA. Marlon had a very successful career, after getting his PhD in Math from MIT he landed a job as an Assistant professor at Yale. Loretta's grandmother, Claudette, was a French Canadian. Marlon met Claudette when she was a graduate student at Yale, she was majoring in Arts. Shortly after their marriage Claudette got a job as an Arts Instructor at a local college. Dave was their mid-child. Dave and his siblings were fluent in French because their parents spoke their mother tongue at home.

When Dave was 13, his parents decided to move to France. Marlon got a job offer from the famous Sorbonne University, and his family moved to Paris. Claudette also got a job at Sorbonne as an Arts Instructor.

Marlon was a yoga fanatic, all his children became yogins. Dave was the best. Marlon joked about Dave making living as a circus contortionist.

In all European countries, except for the UK, students graduate from the High School at the age of 16. After his graduation Dave got acceptance letter from the best European technical college, Polytechnic Institute of Paris.

Dave was 18 when his farther founded a stock trading company. It was also the year when Claudette became a Scientologist, albeit not for too long -- she was declared an SP six months later. Her sin was the picture of LRH that she drew. The picture was depicting LRH as an Egyptian sphinx, the sign underneath it was saying that this was a depiction of LRH's past life. But LRH never claimed to be a sphinx, so this was a gross violation of the Tech. Claudette hung the picture on the wall of her Org, which irritated the Org Captain.

Marlon never played poker before he came to France. But the game was very popular among his French relatives, who played it during family gatherings.

There is a variety of poker games, most of them require memorization of the cards. There are two exceptions -- draw poker an d Texas Hold'em. Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker game in the world, it was also the game of choice for Marlon's relatives. The game looks deceptively simple. But if you want to play it right and earn money, you have to spent years mastering it. Or, as it was in Marlon's case, you could use the probability theory to make right moves.

It took Marlon 4 months to develop a correct strategy, after that he begun rocking tables, as they say it in the world of gambling. Marlon begun playing in casinos and spent one Summer in Monte Carlo, where he earned 1.5 million euros. After that he won a major European Texas Hold'em tournament and added 3 more million euros to his fortune. It was Marlon's last official poker game, he moved on to stock market. He had a strategy of buying and selling stocks. His theory required a substantial capital, which he didn't have before he became a gambler.

The stock market theory proved to be very successful. Marlon quit his Professor job and founded a stock trading company.

Dave was interested in poker games, and Marlon taught him every trick of the trade. Dave's older brother, Jacob, who joined French Navy, and his baby sister, Tara, were not interested in poker.

Dave was 18 when his Mom, a short-time Scientologist, invited their family to a Scientology presentation. Marlon was rich, so he was the target of the recruiting effort.

The representative spoke French with a heavy Louisiana accent. "We are Americans, you can use English," said Marlon. He listened carefully to her speech, the family viewed a Scientology documentary featuring happy OT folk. When the tape ended, Marlon asked one question only, he said, "What are those miraculous OT powers?" "We are not allowed to discuss them," said the girl.

Marlon got up and said, "I am a businessman, mon cheri. I don't buy thing that I know nothing about." After that Marlon, Jacob and Tara left the building. But Dave stayed with Claudette.

As a yogin, Dave was in excellent health, he didn't need to be in the state of Clear. But he thought that boosting his IQ was a good idea. He took basic Dianetics and Scientology courses and even completed Student Hat. In was Summer time, Dave was rocking tables in Paris casinos, he didn't have time for more Scientology courses. Then the Fall semester begun, and he had even less time for Scientology classes.

Tara got back from school when she heard the doorbell ringing. "You, guys, are Americans, aren't you? ", said the young man with a British accent. "Yes, we are," said Tara. ""I'm glad that I don't have to use French, my French sucks," said the man. "How can I help you?" said Tara. "Your Mom was declared an SP," said the man. He read the SP declaration and said," You and your family should disconnect from her."

"I am not a Scientologist, I have no idea what you're talking about," said Tara. "Strange, my note says that you all are Scientologists," said the man. "My brother is a Scientologist, kind of. But my Dad, my other brother and I are not. My Mom, Claudette, is in Canada now. but I could call her. Just leave the declaration, and I'll read it to her over the phone," said Tara. "I'm not allowed to give it to you. Just tell her that she was declared a Suppressive Person," said the man and left.

Tara called Claudette the next day and said, "A man came to see you, and declares you an Oppressive Person." "It's because of my painting. Anyway, screw them, they don't understand the art. Their building stinks, I'm glad I don't have to go there anymore, said Claudette.

When Dave heard about the SP declaration, he said, " They are nice people, I'm sure out Mom was declared SP by mistake."" "Do you want to straighten them out?" said Tara. "I don't have time for that, my midterms are approaching," said Dave.

Dave got his diploma in 5 years, as expected, his major was Electrical Engineering. He also applied to several American collages and got accepted in all of them, including Columbia University.

Dave always wanted to move back to the USA. He begun working on his MS in Computer Science at Columbia University.

It took Dave one year to graduate from Columbia University, after that he got a job at Goldman Sacks as a Network Administrator. The first year was interesting, Dave had to learn a lot of things to accomplish his assignments successfully. His girlfriend, Sasha, was also working at Goldman Sacks as an Economist. Dave wanted to take Bridge courses at a local NYC Org, but Sasha was against it, and he didn't want to argue with her.

One year passed by. Dave's friend, Jason, was talking nonstop about his job as a Communications Engineer. Dave learned everything to be learned at his job, and wanted to try something new. He begun taking satellite communications courses at Polytechnic Institute of NY geared towards Engineer Degree in Satellite Communications (Engineer Degree is above MS but below PhD).

Two months after his graduation Dave got a job offer from a satellite communications company located in Los Angeles. Sasha didn't want to quit her job, so the couple broke up.

Dave loved his new job, and was moving rapidly up the corporate ladder. There are casinos in LA, so Dave got an additional source of income. Dave also begun moving slowly up the Bridge, he wanted to become an auditor. He had a problem with the thetans, though -- he didn't believe in them.

Dave thought that LRH had not a choice but to invent the theta crap because he wanted to hide his true religious beliefs. Every Scientologist knows the story of young Hubbard who made "blood ties" with an Indian Chief. Dave thought that there was more to the story that LRH was willing to admit publically -- he converted to a primitive shamanistic religion later in his life, his religion being a Native American system of idiotic beliefs. In American culture a white man becoming a "red skin" is a total disgrace. Rather that becoming a social pariah, LRH invented the theta nonsense and sold it as a new religion. This was a kind of the sin that Dave was eager to forgive.

Dave met an attractive natural blonde, Milly, when they both were taking courses at ASHO Foundation. Milly was a bank teller with very little money of her own. Dave was a dashing Frenchman with pockets full of gambler money. Dave offered to pay for Milly's Bridge classes. Milly gladly accepted the offer and cemented it in bed the same night.

Milly was pregnant with their first child when she told Dave that they should get married. "Let me talk to my Dad first." said Dave. "What for? You're a grown man!" said Milly. "Yes. But when my brother got married, our Dad gave the couple a gift -- 2 million Euros just because he met the bride year before the wedding, and told my brother that the girl is a keeper. He could the same for us, you know." "All right, talk to him first," said Milly.

"Are you crazy? She's a Scientologist, she'll spend your money chasing OTO spirits," said Marlon. "But I love her!" said Dave. "Well, then marry her. But be smart at the same time, ask her to sign pre-naps," said Matlon.

At first Milly refused to sign pre-naps. But then she did something stupid, and afterwards thought that she might lose Dave, and changed her mind about the pre-naps. The cause of her mistake was the e-meter.

A classmate asked Dave to take a look at his e-meter, the device wasn't working. Dave took the e-meter home. It was Friday evening. Next day Dave was home alone, MIlly was working at the bank's branch. Dave took the device apart and found out that the needle mechanism was not functioning properly, it took him about 20 minutes to fix it. After that he took a look at the e-meter circuitry. Dave was an experienced electronics engineer, it didn't take him long to realize that the e-meter was not an ohmmeter, as Hubbard suggested, but an oscillator. The moment Dave realized that, he knew that the device is stooped, and could be easily fooled. Dave had his own e-meter, he run a few tests on it and in 10 minutes figured out exactly how to fool it.

Dave left the disassembled e-meter on the table because he got hungry, and went to a café. Then instead of going home he went to a casino. When he returned home, Milly was already there, she was fuming. "We, the Scientologists, are not allowed to look inside the e-meter!" she yelled. "Sorry, I didn't know that, I was just helping my classmate, his e-meter was not working," said Dave.

On Monday Milly wrote a KR on Dave and gave it to the ASHO Foundation's Ethics Officer. Dave was a good student, he was taking courses at ASHO Foundation on regular basis. The Ethics Officer didn't want to make Dave feel bad and lose him as a client, he said, "Well, the truth is that you made a snafu. But you have a valid excuse -- you didn't know that. Make sure you won't make the dame mistake again."

There was no ethics punishment. But Dave was mad at Milly for ratting him out. They didn't talk for three days. Finally Dave said, " The apartment is yours, I'm moving out." Milly got scared, she thought went too far. She approached Dave when he was packing his bags, and said in a soft voice, "I am so sorry, I betrayed your trust. But if you stay, I will make it up to you, I will sign the pre-naps." At that time Dave loved Milly, so he stayed. They got married five months after she had signed the pre-naps.

Dave's growth as a Scientologist ended when he reached Level 8, there was nothing left for him. He turned to Hubbard's fantasy and sci-fi books instead. He liked them all and even built a small library of LRH novels at home.

Shortly after the first birthday of their youngest child Milly said, "We will be joining Sea Org". Dave was surprised by the suggestion, and said, "Why now?" "Milly told them about the church's policy of forced abortions, and said," Now we have three kids, we do not need more." Dave was non-committal. Dave was making 95K a year, and was a high poker roller, he was not looking forward to making $50 a week. Nevertheless, he said, "I'm going to talk to the Satellite Communication Org folk."

99% of SO staff earn $50 a week. However, there is a small group of high-earning professionals mostly lawyers, who have competitive salaries. This group also includes satellite communications engineers. A recruiter matched Dave's salary, and he joined the Org. It was not surprising because not a single engineer in his right mind would agree to anything else.

All essential Org staff were WOGs. Their workday used to begin at 9:00 AM and end at 5:00 PM. Dave couldn't work alone after their departure. Nevertheless, his workday lasted until 7:00 PM because he was also a part-time network administrator. The network administrator was an old dude unfamiliar with the configuration, prior to that he used to work for a Computer Org with a very different computer network. He did well at his previous position. His Bosses thought that he will be successful at his new post, but that was a mistake, he was helpless and confused.

As an experienced network administrator, Dave learned the new configuration in just 4 months, after that his job became a piece of cake, and he was ending his job at 6:00 PM.

Milly sent their oldest kids to Delphi. Dave didn't know how bad the school was, he thought it was a regular private school.

Dave developed close friendship with Milly's sister, Melody and her husband. Milly didn't like their relation because Melody was critical of Scientology, but Dave ignored her grumblings and continued visiting his new friends on regular basis. The couple didn't have their own children, and they took a great pleasure of spending time with Dave's kids.

Dave and one of his WOG coworkers, Brit, because good friends. Brit had an open relation with his girlfriend and was pushing Dave in that direction. He used to say, "Pretend that your wife is your girlfriend who gets screwed by the spirits. You could do the same with real women." But at that time Dave was faithful to his wife. "What kind of Frenchman are you? Being faithful to the wife is so un-French!" said Brit on more that one occasion. They both laught at the joke. But infidelity was not on Dave's mind. Not yet.

Milly got to OT 5 level, an everything deemed fine with her. But one night Dave woke up in their bed because of Milly's screams, she was ordering the thetans to depart from her body. Dave didn't know what to do, he thought that waking her up would do more harm than good. Suddenly she stopped screaming and fell asleep. When Dave asked her in the morning what happened at night, she said, "What do you mean? I was sleeping, as usual."

This scene repeated several times. Dave was worried dick, he decided to contact Milly's parents. One Saturday he flew to San Francisco, where Milly's parents lived, without telling her. Turned out, Milly had anorexia when she was 13. "She was not a happy child, we had to keep her at anorexia treatment facility for some time. But, eventually, she got well.," said Milly's Mom. Both her parents were Scientologists, so they were not bothered by Milly's advance at the Bridge. "This is just a phase, she be fine when she gets to OT 6," said Milly's Dad. But Dave was no so sure.

After she got to OT 5, Milly's Sea Org career took off, she was transferred to RTC, her boss sent her to Florida to get to OT 8 level. When Milly returned, she was a different person. She told Dave that they should sleep in separate beds because "sex is demeaning to the thetans." She also gained 40 pounds in just five months.

"I think she's having an affair," Britt said after he heard about Milly's transformation. "She doesn't know how to fool the e-meter, her sec checks would have revealed her affairs," said Dave. "The e-meter is unpredictable, so I heard. In any case, why should you beg her for sex? Tell me when you're ready, we'll go to a singles bar," said Britt.

Dave begun having affairs with multiple women. He was rich and he liked spending money, so there was no shortage of candidates. Milly gained another 20 pounds and ballooned to 200 lbs. Dave thought that he wouldn't have sex with her even if she asks him to. But he didn't want to divorce Milly because he knew that he would lose custody of their children. He was not in danger of going to RPF because he knew how to fool the e-meter, his sec checks were always coming clean. Dave got used to his new life and enjoyed it.

Marlon came to town. His stock trading company was doing extremely well, his personal wealth was in excess 500 million euros. Marlon just opened a company branch in NYC, his target was NYSE. Marlon flew to LA to meet Dave and discuss a business opportunity with him.

Some companies have very advanced computers, they use these computers to perform complex math calculations for themselves. The other companies have the same types of computers for their own use, and also do calculations for their clients on those computers. All satellite communication companies have superfast computers.

Marlon invited Dave to a French restaurant, the third person at their table was an IT Director of the NYC branch. "I need fast computers to calculate stock data, CoS have such computers. You are a part-time Network Administrator; you know what it means," said Marlon. "What's the average price for the service?" said Dave. "5,000 USD an hour, I'll pay you 3,000, " said Marlon. "How often do you need my service?" said Dave. "Just 2 hours a day, you can do the job during the off-peak hours," said Marlon. "Can I get more hours? I have 12 off-peak hours a day," said Dave. "Not from me. But don't worry about that. My business associates would love to hire you for the same price," said Marlon. "I accept the offer," said Dave.

It took two weeks to install the required software into the CoS satellite computer network. After that the things were running smoothly, as Marlon promised, Dave was able to use all his 12 off-peak hours. The money was streaming to Dave's offshore accounts, he bought a penthouse. "I got a belated wedding present at the amount of 5 million euros from my Dad," Dave told Milly.